Multidentate phosphino-alkene ligands and their late transition metal complexes

The synthesis and characterisation of a new class of multidentate conformationally flexible phosphino-alkene ligands, called dbaPHOS (127) and monodbaPHOS (128), are described is this PhD thesis. The related phosphine sulphide ligands, namely dbaTHIOPHOS (137) and monodbaTHIOPHOS (149), have also been prepared.

The coordination chemistry of the novel ligands was investigated with a variety of late-transition metals, including Cu, Rh, Pd and Pt. X-ray crystal structure determination of the complexes containing these ligands highlights the multiple coordination modes and versatility of each ligand system. The ability of the 1,4-dien-3-one backbone to adopt different conformational geometries around metal centers is of particular note. DbaPHOS (127) was found to act as a cis- and trans-chelating bisphosphine in both square planar PdII and PtII complexes. The 1,4-dien-3-one motif is hemilabile; exchange between coordinated and non-coordinated alkenes is observed in both the Pd0 complex, 167, and the related cationic CuI complex, 193.

An investigation into the CuI complexes’ activity in the cyclopropanation of styrene, as catalysts, showed that they are commensurate with other recently reported systems.

In addition to the coordination chemistry of the novel ligand systems, some interesting findings emerged in the ligand synthesis and characterisation studies. For example, monodbaTHIOPHOS (149) undergoes an interesting solid-state [2+2] intramolecular cycloaddition transformation, giving cycloadduct, 206. Furthermore, 2-hydroperoxytetrahydrofuran was found to be an impurity in the microwave-assisted Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction of 2-(diphenylthiophosphine)benzaldehyde (136) with 1,3-bis-(ethoxyphosphonato)-acetone (130) to give of dbaTHIOPHOS (137) and an unexpected THF insertion product, 138. The latter is explained by a side reaction involving the reduced compound, tetrahydrofuran-2-ol, derived from 2-hydroperoxytetrahydrofuran.